Quote:
Originally posted by cthulu23
Although we are in the midst of an increadibly polarized political climate, I think that the term "hate" is being thrown about a bit too readily. If I criticize Bush in an illogical or immature way, does that necessarily equate with hatred? I think that the entire perception of "hate speech" as it applies to the presidential election is probably based more on Republican spin than actual "hate." I may be splitting hairs here, but, political debates may frequently be over-heated and vitriolic, but they rarely break down into sincere hatred of the other side (excepting bigots and maniacs, as always).
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I don't know about the supposed "Republican spin", I just know the behaviors that I see from both sides. If it's not hate then I don't know what else to call it. There was certainly a fair amount of hate going the opposite direction in the Clinton years and I don't hesitate to call it that. Certainly some people disapproved of his behaviors while others absolutely hated the man (and his wife and everyone associated with them apparently).
Personally I don't hate any politicians. I honestly can't say I hate anyone at this point in time. To deny that there are "haters" on both sides of the aisle is BS, IMO.
The tough part is weeding out the "haters" from those who are representative of their parties. In this particular campaign it's very difficult to distinguish the haters from non-haters on the Democratic side when every other day you hear ridiculous accusations against the President being focused on rather than the issues that really matter. To quote cthulu23 from the thread about Bush pressuring Pakistan to deliver high value terrorist targets before the election, "when do you say enough"?